Adult coloring books are all the buzz of late. It is clear that it revolves around colored pencils or crayons and coloring pages. But, it is just coloring, right? How can something like staying within the lines be a benefit to me? I grew up during the time of doodle art - remember those? You got a pack of felt markers and elaborate black line drawings on a number of themes. I would spend hours coloring these in! Little did I know then that coloring pages were a benefit to my well-being.
So why the fascination, and how can they help you? In the most basic sense, the act of applying colored media to intricate line drawings is a benefit to relaxation and stress reduction. You are able to put the outside world aside for the moment and focus on the art of coloring singularly. Studies have shows that anxiety levels dropped in adults that colored. They did note that simple doodling had no affect on anxiety. The focus on coloring and switching off the brain allows that blocking of anxiety in the moment. Coloring does not have a need for complicated thought processes and like listening to calming music, you are able to get within yourself, isolated from external anxiety, commotion, and distractions.
Coloring books are a thing of the past. Kids today arent as thrilled by a basic coloring book as children a generation ago. That is because these children have been spoiled by all the fantastic new methods of coloring using the computer or with fancy markers and pens. While you might get away with a coloring book and crayons for a long car trip, dont expect your school age children to sit quietly at the table coloring pictures the old fashioned way - there is a something better around, and they know it.
